NOW that we know, or think we know, who our next Prime Minister is going to be, it’s all plain sailing ahead, or is it?

With more than half the Conservative MPs voting for him, and way ahead in polls of Conservative party members and would-be Conservative voters, Boris Johnson looks like a slam dunk against Jeremy Hunt... as about an equal contest as Whitehawk versus the Albion (although I am aware that giant-killings do happen).

It was not for nothing that Johnson supporters at Westminster schemed to ensure that it was Hunt’s, rather than Michael Gove’s, name that would be on the final ballot paper.

Not only is Hunt seen as a less formidable figure than Gove but as a former Remain voter he can be dubbed “Theresa May in drag”, a formidable weapon given that many Tories believe that we’re in our current Brexit mess as a result of Mrs May, a former Remainer, never having had her heart in leaving (though she certainly had me fooled).

So where do we, or more appropriately, Johnson go from here if he does make it to Downing Street next month?

Back to Brussels that’s for sure but when, and with what aim?

The when is crucial because he has very little time to even begin any talks, let alone complete them.

Consider this... he’s elected at the end of July, in August most of Brussels is away on holiday (as are most Members of Parliament), in September we have three weeks of party conferences and Parliament returns on October 9 – just three weeks before we are due to leave.

Even when he does make it to Brussels what’s he going to say? “I want a new deal”? Fat chance... European Union leaders have made it clear that there’s no new deal on the table.

They might be prepared to change the odd word here, the odd comma there, but to do so by October 31 would be a tough ask.

And even if it were possible, would even Mr Johnson’s powers of oratory and persuasion, be sufficient to convince enough wavering Members of Parliament to get the deal over the Parliamentary line?

The answer might well lie in the hands of the small band of Democratic Unionist Party members who have been calling the shots so far.

If there is still an Irish backstop – the guarantee that we remain in the customs union until a full trade deal has been agreed – then the DUP, and hard-line Tories, will continue to say no and Mr

Johnson would then be reliant on sufficient Labour MPs, fearful of their Leave voters, coming to his rescue but that is an unlikely scenario.

Given how improbable all the above is where does that leave us?

Clearly the legal position is that we are heading for a no deal departure at the end of October.

I remain unconvinced that any future Conservative Prime Minister will allow this to happen, not just because of all the disastrous consequences but because he will know that this would almost inevitably lead to a vote of no confidence in the House.

If, as seems likely, this is carried, there would be a general election which, on current poll ratings, would result in the near-obliteration of the Tory Party at the hands of Mr Farage and his merry band of Brexiteers.

So, if my rather cloudy crystal ball is telling me no deal and no general election are off the table, what outcomes remain?

The most likely is that Mr Johnson and team, after achieving miniscule progress in Brussels, ask the European Union for just a little more time to finish the job.

Given the European Union leaders’ own concerns about a no deal, and despite public pronouncements to the contrary, they would probably agree.

So the old negotiating merry-go-round would start up again and we’d be almost back to where we were, only with Mr Johnson,

rather than Mrs May, making the excuses.

But its my second alternative that is the most fun.

Mr Johnson comes back from his first stint of Brussels negotiating and tells the House, in his inimical style (and with hair once again ruffled): “Look chaps and chapesses, this European Union thing is monstrously complicated, how could I have known?

“We’ve made a right Horlicks of it to date, so I have a jolly wheeze – I’m going to revoke Article 50 then we can start all over again... clean slate and all that”

Unlikely to happen I know, but if there is one politician with both the chutzpah (and lack of principles) to do it, then that man is Boris Johnson not Jeremy Hunt.

Ivor Gaber is professor of political journalism at the University of Sussex and a former political correspondent at Westminster.